Obama meets with Giffords

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords didn't get to see her husband blast off into space on Friday, but she met privately with him and President Barack Obama in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Giffords and Obama were at NASA's Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, commanded by Mark Kelly, Giffords' astronaut husband. Liftoff was scheduled for 12:47 p.m. Arizona time, but NASA scrubbed the launch 3 1/2 hours before that because of a technical problem with the shuttle.

Giffords, who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, has been in Florida since Wednesday. It is her first trip away from the Houston facility where she has been undergoing rehabilitation since late January.

C.J. Karamargin, Giffords' communications director, said her office had not yet made a decision on whether she would stay in Florida. He said they would wait on NASA for more information on how long the delay would be. The delay might also allow her to spend some more time with Kelly, he said.

"This is her third launch and Mark's fourth," he said. "You almost expect it."

Obama would have been only the third seated president to witness a manned rocket launch. He arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with his wife, two daughters and his mother-in-law. He and first lady Michelle Obama visited Giffords, who was shot during a Jan. 8 assassination attempt near Tucson, for about 10 minutes.

Few details about Obama's private meeting with Giffords were available, but Giffords was pleased to meet with the president, according to a statement from her office. Also present in the room were Gloria Giffords, her mother; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat and close friend of Giffords'; and Scott Kelly, her brother-in-law who also is a NASA astronaut.

Later, Pia Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff, and Wasserman Schultz, who also is Democratic National Committee chairwoman, observed a 20-minute visit by Obama with Kelly and the five other Endeavour astronauts.